Jewish Community News

News: April 2004

Groundbreaking party on April 1, community invited

The original structure of the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center on Oka Road in Los Gatos will come tumbling down Thursday, April 1, as the Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose begins construction of the new $22 million Gloria and Ken Levy Family Campus.

San Jose Construction Company will begin the demolition at 10 a.m. at a Jewish ceremony celebrating the new beginning. The public is invited.

Building demolition will be followed on April 25 by a community-wide party celebrating the beginning of construction. The 116,000 square foot building is scheduled for completion in summer 2005. More

Local Passover Listings

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israelathon April 27

The Jewish community of San Jose will celebrate Israel’s 56th birthday at the Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration on April 27. This year’s event will include an “Israelathon,” a fundraising event to benefit families with young children living in Kiryat Malachi, Israel.

“Israelathon” participants will seek sponsors and deliver donations to the Yom Ha’Atzmaut event. Individuals who participate in the fundraiser will have the chance to climb Masada (a rock-climbing wall), participate in an archeological dig in Jerusalem, go hula hooping in Eilat, and play paddleball in Tel Aviv - all without leaving San Jose! More

Chabad’s ‘Friendship Circle’ for special needs children

Chabad of the Greater South Bay has launched an innovative new program aimed at Jewish special needs children called “The Friendship Circle.” The program matches special needs children and teenage mentors. The teen mentors make weekly home visits to the children’s homes. The children and their mentors also participate in social gatherings organized by Chabad and Jewish volunteers.

The home visits, which involve simple interacting through crafts, computer games, sports, or music, have meant the most for the special needs children. The children gain a special friend that will hopefully lead to an everlasting relationship. More

Hillel of Silicon Valley creates progress at Foothill College

By Brynne Speizer

Following the fallout from a controversial anti-Israel article in the Foothill Community College student newspaper, Foothill College President Dr. Bernadine Chuck Fong has agreed to create an action plan for “mutual respect for all members of our college community.”

In her statement, Fong also wrote that she is looking “forward to strengthening our ties with the leadership of the Jewish community’s organizations.” More

Doing the Seder my way

By Jane Ulman (JTA)

From guests who arrived an hour late to guests who rushed us through the Haggadah, from guests who wisecracked and whined to guests who drowned their decorative toy frogs in their water glasses, last year’s Seder had me wishing the Israelites had never escaped from slavery.

“Let all who are hungry come and eat,” we recite each year as part of the Ha Lachmah Anya prayer. But does this obligatory invitation extend to unruly relatives, who do not, fortunately for them, include my children? More

Doing things I never thought I could

By Becky Pressman

There I was, standing on a massive, damp rock, with my siddur in my hands, hearing only the sound of waves crashing, completely organic. No traffic, no cell phones, no loud conversations, only peaceful silence. The way I got there was pretty cool, too, a 16-mile bike trip. It is considered the rite of passage for the Sollelimers (campers going into 8th grade). The trail we took was called rails to trails, the route of an old railway system. The whole trip took about an hour and a half; it was all downhill. Some things that I do at Camp Ramah are things that I never could even imagine doing at home. I was skeptical about the bike trip, but it was one of the most enjoyable trips I’ve taken. More

Yavneh Board President Ellenberg looks forward to joining local agencies at new Levy Campus

By Alan Markow

As president of the Yavneh Board of Trustees, Susan Ellenberg has guided her organization through the tough decisions involved in committing itself to the Gloria and Ken Levy Family Campus.

“We’re now excited about having our own home, and being in facilities that are designed from the ground up for elementary and middle school education,” she told the JCN. “With the confidence of long-term security as a tenant of the Levy campus, we’ll be free to put greater focus on long-range planning.”

Ellenberg feels the Levy Campus’ appearance will place Yavneh in “a physical environment that reflects the quality of the school’s academic programs. Of course, the core of our success depends not so much on the physical infrastructure as on the teaching that goes on inside the classrooms.” More

Jewish mega-donors give little to Jews

Robert Meyerhoff, a Maryland real-estate developer, and his wife, Jane, promised last year to bequeath their $300 million collection of more than 100 modern art works to Washington’s National Gallery of Art.

Irwin Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of the San Diego wireless company Qualcomm, and his wife, Joan, pledged $110 million to the University of California-San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, which bears their name.

“This is the pattern of Jewish mega-giving,” said Gary Tobin, president of the Institute of Jewish & Community Research, in San Francisco.

Last spring, Tobin unveiled a study tracking 188 mega-gifts of $10 million or more by the nation’s 123 wealthiest Jews between 1995 and 2000; he plans to release a follow-up study in September.
Tobin’s initial study found that out of a total of $5.3 billion in philanthropy by Jews, only $318 million — 6 percent — went to Jewish institutions. More

Jewish Study Network takes on assimilation

According to the National Jewish Population Study of the United Jewish Communities that was published in 2001, Jews in the western region of the United States are less likely to be involved in the Jewish community and Jewish ritual.

Watch out assimilation! Jewish education in the South Bay has a new face. In fact, it has several new faces. Emerging as a significant force in the sphere of high-content, quality Jewish education is the team of dynamic families known as the Jewish Study Network. More

Local Jewish woman turns 100

By Cecily Ruttenberg

Thyra Seelig sits propped, her small frame resting against two pillows. Next to her, the pillows seem unusually large. Despite her simple surroundings — a sturdy hospital bed in a small room at the Plum Tree nursing home — Thyra twinkles. Her shiny blouse pours color onto her lined face, lips painted light magenta. Most dramatic are her eyes, piercing brown, understanding everything.

Thrya turned 100 years old on March 30. When she speaks, her low, blunt voice strikes a stark contrast to her petite frame. “It’s a helluva long time,” she states. “Too long. I think God should take all of the old and leave the young.” More

Anti-semitism on campus? An open letter to the chancellor of UC Davis

Kevin Frankel, 21, is a member of Congregation Beth David and now a senior at UC Davis, where he is president of Hillel. Over winter break he was in Israel with other U.S. Jewish college leaders for the purpose of better understanding the Jewish/Palestinian situation. He wrote this letter to his school chancellor on Feb. 6 after attending an on-campus talk sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine and the Third World Forum. He is still waiting for a response. More

Should U.S. money secure synagogues?

By Matthew E. Berger (JTA)

It soon could be a conundrum for American Jews: Should communities allow government money into synagogues in order to keep terrorists out?

Behind the scenes at this year’s Jewish Council for Public Affairs plenum, officials were debating how to reconcile steadfast support by some Jewish groups for strict separation between church and state with the growing need for money to ease soaring post-Sept. 11 security costs. Especially contentious is whether the money should go to synagogues and day schools. More

SBI: Rabbi Kushner ‘Living a Life That Matters’

By Bettina Rosenberg

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner will give the final lecture of the 2004 SBI lecture series on Thursday, April 22, 7:30 p.m., at Congregation Beth David. The talk, underwritten by Gloria and Ken Levy, will be on the topic “Living a Life That Matters.”

Kushner is rabbi laureate of Temple Israel of Natick, Mass., and has served that congregation for 24 years. He is best known as the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, an international best seller first published in 1981. He has also written When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough, which was awarded the Christopher Medal for its contribution to the exaltation of the human spirit. More

JFS starts group for families of seniors

An ongoing drop-in group for those who need assistance with life choices for seniors will be held each Friday from noon to 1 p.m., beginning April 16. The group, called “A Place to Begin,” is for anyone in a position to help the seniors in his or her life: adult children, spouses, other family members, or seniors themselves who need information. There are so many choices to make and it isn’t always easy to locate the needed information. Let the trained staff help in making the right decisions. There is no charge to attend a session but reservations must be made. Call Avital Agam at 556-0600 x17, or email avitala@jfssv.org. More

Physician to speak on end-of-life issues at Beth David in April

By Eleanor Weber Dickman

Geriatric specialist and Kaiser-Permanente Hospice Medical Director Elizabeth Menkin, M.D., will offer a lecture and workshop on advance care planning on Sunday, April 25, at Congregation Beth David from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event is co-sponsored by Beth David’s Chevrat Chesed (the synagogue’s caring committee), and the Coda Alliance, a non-profit San Jose organization with a vision that “community members will receive end-of-life care that honors their values, goals, and spiritual needs.”

Dr. Menkin stresses that the development of an advance care directive should be viewed not as an impersonal legal document (a contract), but rather as a “covenant, a reciprocal ongoing relationship, involving both trust and obligation.” More

Yavneh rolls out fall 2004 middle school program

By Shelley Leveson

Yavneh Day School formally rolled out the plans for its new middle school program to a standing-room-only crowd at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Stuart Krigel. The program will begin this fall with grade 6, with an additional grade added each subsequent year to have a full K-8 program by fall 2006. Larry Stein, Middle School Committee chair, said the day school initially planned to institute the first sixth grade class in fall of 2005, but strong funding support and community interest allowed plans to be accelerated by a year. More